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Merseytram was a proposed light rail system for
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...
, England. Originally proposed in 2001, forming part of the Merseyside Local Transport Plan, it was to consist of three lines, connecting the
Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley is a metropolitan borough in Merseyside, North West England. It covers several towns and villages, including Kirkby, Prescot, Huyton, Whiston, Halewood, Cronton and Stockbridge Village; Kirkby, Huyton, and ...
with central
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. The project was postponed due to funding problems before eventually being formally closed down by
Merseytravel Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transpor ...
in October 2013.


Planned services


City Centre Loop

The hub of the Merseytram system was to be a loop around
Liverpool city centre Liverpool city centre is the commercial, cultural, financial and historical centre of Liverpool, England. The inner city districts of Vauxhall, Liverpool, Vauxhall, Everton, Liverpool, Everton, Edge Hill, Merseyside, Edge Hill, Kensington, Liv ...
. Designed to be constructed in two stages (simultaneous with Line One and Line Two), the loop would have covered major transport hubs (
Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a terminus railway station and the main station serving the city centre of Liverpool. Opened in August 1836, it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. A branch of the West Coast M ...
, for mainline services;
Moorfields Moorfields was an open space, partly in the City of London, lying adjacent to – and outside – its northern wall, near the eponymous Moorgate. It was known for its marshy conditions, the result of the defensive wall acting like a dam, i ...
for the
Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...
network; Paradise Street Interchange for city bus services; and the Pier Head for
Mersey Ferry The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in north west England, between Liverpool to the east and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula to the west. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12th ...
services). Other destinations included the Kings Dock Arena & Conference Centre, the main shopping centre (including the
Liverpool One Liverpool ONE is a shopping, residential, and leisure complex in Liverpool, England. The project involved the redevelopment of 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land in the city centre. It is a retail-led development anchored by the department store ...
retail development) and tourist attractions such as St George's Hall,
Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corpo ...
, the
Albert Dock Albert Dock may refer to: *Albert Dock, Hull, in Kingston upon Hull, England *Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool, a dock and warehouse system in Liverpool, England *Royal Albert Dock, London The Royal Albert Dock is one of three docks in the Royal ...
and the
World Museum World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...
and
Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...
.


Line One

Line One was to leave the City Centre Loop at Monument Place and head in a north east direction along London Road and via the
Royal Liverpool University Hospital The Royal Liverpool University Hospital (RLUH) is a major teaching and research hospital located in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the largest and busiest hospital in Merseyside and Cheshire, and has the largest emergency department of i ...
to West Derby Road and out to
West Derby West Derby ( ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located East of the city and is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West ...
and
Croxteth Croxteth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Although housing in the area is predominantly modern, the suburb has some notable history. At the United Kingdom 2011 Census it had a population of 14,561. ...
, terminating at
Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...
; a distance of some .


Line Two

Line Two, which was intended to open in 2008, would leave the city centre loop at Lime Street and head east to
Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civ ...
and Whiston, via Paradise Street,
Knotty Ash Knotty Ash is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Historically in Lancashire, the population at the 2001 Census was 13,200, increasing to 13,312 at the 2011 Census. Knotty Ash is well known as the home o ...
and
Page Moss Page Moss is an area in the borough of Knowsley, Merseyside. It borders the city of Liverpool to the east. Previously known as "The Horns" due to the name of two buildings previously sited in the area. The population of the Knowsley ward taken at ...
.


Line Three

Line Three would have terminated at
Liverpool John Lennon Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport in Liverpool, England, on the estuary of the River Mersey south-east of Liverpool city centre. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are operated fr ...
via Liverpool South Parkway and may have used some running alongside the Edge Hill to Runcorn line.


History


19th Century

Liverpool had an extensive tram network in the early-20th century, which was one of the most advanced in the UK. The network included large sections of
reserved track Reserved track, in tram transport terminology, is track on ground exclusively for trams (in the US, typically called a "private right-of-way"). Description Unlike street running track embedded in streets and roads, reserved track does not need ...
in the centre reservations and side reservations of the dual carriageway system that was developed by Liverpool City Engineer,
John Brodie John Riley Brodie (born August 14, 1935) is a former American football player, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He had a second career as a Senior PGA Tour professional golfer, and ...
. Brodie understood that ordinary railway sleeper track was less expensive than road tram track and thereby justified the increased width of the new roads. The reservations also allowed trams to by-pass road congestion.


20th Century

After
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, trams fell out of favour and
Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...
voted to scrap the system in 1957. The controversial decision was made by the casting vote of the mayor – a protocol requirement in the event of a hung vote. During the 1960s and 1970s, public transport development in Liverpool concentrated on integration and expansion of the dispersed urban rail lines into a complete rapid transit network with bored tunnels and stations in the centre serving a large part of the city and Merseyside. The resulting metro-like network was called
Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...
. One of the main proposals was the creation of an Outer Rail Loop by the electrification of a former passenger route through the eastern suburbs, a six platform underground interchange station at Broad Green, and using existing lines in the west of the city. This proposal was unsuccessful due to financial problems and political opposition. The eastern section of the Outer Loop was not built leaving the eastern districts of the city unserved. In the mid 1990s, a new proposal was formulated to serve the eastern suburbs remote from the rail network. This was known as MRT, the Mersey Rapid Transit and would have consisted of articulated electric trolley buses using an electronic guidance system. The proposed route was from the City Centre to Page Moss via Mount Pleasant. The scheme was rejected at public inquiry - one of the reasons given being the reopening of pedestrianised routes in the city centre to road vehicles. In response, Merseytravel proposed the Merseytram three line system. Unlike the
Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kin ...
, which used heavy rail lines and stations serving the towns around Manchester and street running in Manchester city centre, Merseytram was a stand-alone 100% street running network. Unable to build an underground rail in the city centre after the cancellation of the
Picc-Vic tunnel Picc-Vic was a proposed, and later cancelled, underground railway designed in the early 1970s with the purpose of connecting two major mainline railway termini in Manchester city centre, England. The name Picc-Vic was a contraction of the two sta ...
scheme, Greater Manchester designed Metrolink as a mixture of
commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
and street running trams where because of cost constraints tunnels could not be bored. Unlike Manchester, Liverpool has used and unused tunnels under its city centre. Metrolink acted as a fast commuter rail system on the outskirts and a street running tram in Manchester city centre. Merseytram did not use any Merseyrail track and branch off to disconnected parts of the city not served by rail. Neither did Merseytram use mothballed tunnels or trackbeds in the Liverpool area, of which the city has in abundance. The lack of integration with Merseyrail was criticized.


Scheme development

The project was accepted by
Secretary of State for Transport The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent i ...
Alistair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...
in December 2002. After extensive
public consultation Public consultation (Commonwealth countries and European Union), public comment (US), or simply consultation, is a regulatory process by which the public's input on matters affecting them is sought. Its main goals are in improving the efficiency, ...
, the contract to build the first two lines was initially awarded in late 2004, but problems with the tender bid with regards to the best value forced the cancellation of the contract and the reopening of the tender process. In April 2005, the M-Pact consortium of
GrantRail VolkerRail is a specialist railway infrastructure services company based in Doncaster, England, providing services across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is wholly owned by Netherlands-based VolkerWessels, a multi-disciplinary construction an ...
and
Laing O’Rourke Laing O'Rourke is a multinational construction company headquartered in Dartford, England. It was founded in 1978 by Ray O'Rourke. It is the largest privately owned construction company in the United Kingdom. History The company was founded by ...
was named as the preferred bidder. On 21 December 2004, the Merseytram Line 1 Transport and Works Act application was approved by Darling. The line was originally intended to start construction on 1 July 2005 for a 2007 opening. Plans called for it to use
Bombardier Flexity Swift The Bombardier Flexity Swift is a series of urban and inter-urban tram, light rail and light metro vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. It is part of the Bombardier Flexity family of rail vehicles, and like the others, Flexity S ...
trams. The tram network had formed part of a larger regeneration project in the areas in which it was intended to run, related to Liverpool's award of European Capital of Culture in 2008. In the event, the need to avoid extensive street works during 2008 led to half of the city centre loop being removed from the Line One scheme for delivery as part of the subsequent Line Two.


Rejection

Budget for the first stage of the project was set at £225 million, with the
Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...
providing £170 million of the cost. However, by 2005 rising costs had led to a new requirement of £238 million against a cost of £325 million. The Government had refused any additions to the initial amount and asked the two councils that would be supporting Line One (
Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...
and
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Merseyside and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, a ...
) to make an agreement not to seek additional funding from the government if the project ran over budget. Although some attempts to meet this request were made, Under-Secretary of State for Transport Derek Twigg felt that the assurances of the two councils that any shortfall would be met by
Merseytravel Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transpor ...
and a £24 million contingency fund were insufficient and cancelled the scheme on 29 November 2005.


Efforts at revival

At the beginning of 2008 fresh hopes of reviving the tram project were raised. Keolis who would have been operating the trams originally, confirmed they are still on board and in ongoing talks with Merseytravel. From 1 October 2008 new health and safety regulations were applied to light rail (trams) as well as to heavy rail (trains) meaning that required safety levels became higher and more expensive. On 18 April 2008 a new bid for funds was requested by the
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
, now seemingly considerably keener on the idea of trams on Merseyside. High hopes that the long-awaited project was finally back on track were raised even further with another announcement, a few days later, that the new business case for Line 1 was to be submitted to the DfT in the second half of 2008. It was published by the local press in May 2008 that if
Everton Football Club Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
's relocation to
Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...
, just outside Liverpool, was granted planning permission, Merseytram would be more likely to go ahead. However, in November 2009, Everton's proposed stadium at Kirkby was rejected. In November 2009 Merseytravel was given permission from local councils to seek new funding from the Department for Transport, making the £450 million project become back on track.


Compulsory Purchase Order

On 8 August 2013 a campaign group was set up to bring together the individuals and businesses affected by the compulsory purchase order that was in place for a number of years. The compulsory purchase has now officially expired. The aim of the campaign group was to seek compensation from Merseytram for the loss caused by the compulsory purchase order. A Freedom of Information request was also submitted to Merseytravel on 8 August 2013 with a view of obtaining the details of all land/building owners affected by the compulsory purchase order.


Future

Merseytram was placed as a priority project within Merseytravel's transport plan for 2006–2011, and alignments were preserved within all current and approved projects along the Line 1 route. The rights to construction were due to expire in February 2010 if construction had not begun, but the Council controversially issued 800 compulsory purchase orders despite no funding being in place to commence construction. The Council also approved the site of a park and ride at
Gillmoss Gillmoss is an area in north Liverpool, Merseyside, England, located between Croxteth, Fazakerley and Kirkby. Description Gillmoss is a predominantly industrial area with little residential housing although pockets exist around the East Lancashi ...
, off the
East Lancashire Road The A580 (officially the Liverpool–East Lancashire Road, colloquially the East Lancs Road) is the United Kingdom's first purpose-built inter-city highway. The road, which remains a primary A road, was officially opened by King George V on 18 ...
to keep the planning permission alive. The park and ride site was viewed as interim use for bus-visiting football fans on match days. The project remained without government recognition as a regional transport priority, which prevented access to the Merseyside regional transport funding allocation budget of the Department for Transport. In 2009, the then
Minister of State for Transport The Minister of State for Transport is a mid-level ministerial position in the Department for Transport of the Government of the United Kingdom who deputises for the Secretary of State for Transport. There is also a list of Parliamentary Under-S ...
Sadiq Khan Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...
, in the words of Liverpool Council leader Warren Bradley "virtually kills off Merseytram once and for all." The Merseytram project was formally closed by the Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority in October 2013. In June 2019 the ''
Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...
'' reported early plans for a similar light-rail or trackless electric system to connect the Lime Street area of central Liverpool to the Knowledge Quarter and Paddington Village, a route which currently suffers from poor public transport connection and traffic congestion. Under the provisional name of the 'Lime Line', the route would be part of a scheme to redevelop the area around the Adelphi Hotel.


Criticism

The route of Line One has caused some controversy. The fact that it would terminate at Kirkby, already served by a fast and frequent Merseyrail service, had led it to be seen as duplicating an existing service. Merseytravel responded by pointing out that Line One would serve a completely different market – an argument accepted by the inspector at the subsequent public inquiry. There were also fears that the tram by taking one side of a dual carriageway at West Derby Road, would increase congestion on an already busy road. Merseytravel argued that congestion would be more likely to occur without the tram project and that improved junction design would serve to maintain capacity. Again, this argument was accepted by the inspector. Liverpool City councillor Stuart Monkcom has been vociferous in his opposition to the tram scheme, highlighting poor financial performance of other tram networks: "In 2006, for example, Manchester's Altram accounts showed a loss of £8m due to overoptimistic passenger projections, while in the West Midlands the Midland Metro, also operated by Altram, showed losses of about £16m. Worst of all, down in London, Tramtrack Croydon Ltd recorded debts of £100m and was seeking financial restructuring in order to continue trading." In response, critics stated that these arguments failed to recognise that these systems were all operated on a not for profit basis by the relevant PTE's. Tramtrack Croydon Ltd was bought out by Transport for London for £98m in 2008, TfL, which always set the fares had been paying the company £4 million a year in compensation for the commercially unviable fares under a 1996 agreement however it recognised operational savings could be made from owning the system directly. Councillor Monkcom suggested expansion to
Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...
or reconstruction of the
Liverpool Overhead Railway The Liverpool Overhead Railway (known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella or Ovee) was an overhead railway in Liverpool which operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number ...
as preferable schemes to Merseytram.


See also

*
Liverpool Tramways Company The Liverpool Tramways Company was operated horse-drawn tramway services in Liverpool from 1869 to 1898. History In 1868 the Liverpool Tramway Company obtained permission to construct an Inner Circle line and lines to Walton and Dingle. Servi ...
*
Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...
*
Merseytravel Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transpor ...
*
Wirral Street Car The Wirral Street Car is a proposed tramway from Bidston Dock to Woodside Ferry Terminal to provide transport links for the Wirral Waters development. The line will use pre-existing rolling stock as well as incorporating both the disused Birkenh ...


References


External links

* * {{coord missing, Merseyside Rail transport in Merseyside Tram transport in England Rail transport in Liverpool Electric railways in the United Kingdom Abandoned light rail projects in the United Kingdom